Sunday, April 4, 2010

Muhammad al-Asi in an interview with the Tehran Times

TEHRAN – Muhammad al-Asi, a prayer leader at the Islamic Center of Washington, says only governments are Iranophobic while nations “sympathize” with Iran.

Muhammad al-Asi was in Tehran to participate in the 23rd International Islamic Unity Conference from March 3 to 5.

In an interview with the Tehran Times, Al-Asi said he believes that lack of “rational thought” is the most important reason behind misunderstandings between Muslims.

Following is an excerpt of the interview:

Q: Why there is misunderstanding between Muslims?

A: I think the absence of rational thought has contributed significantly to misunderstandings among Muslims. Tensions, and even accusations and in some cases the bad blood, most of that is attributable to the fact that we have a general public Muslim that lacks a minimum standard of thinking. If Muslims could raise their level of thinking then they can tolerate differences and if they raise their level of thinking they can accept the other opinion that does not necessarily correspond with their own opinion. I think there is no avoiding the issue that Muslims need to think and if we continue along this traditional Islam that we have then we will go from one generation to next generation with more problem, misunderstanding, friction, accusation, one denomination against the other, and one school of thought against the other. The only way out of these is to raise our standards of thinking.

Q: How should we handle the problems Muslims face?

A: When you speak about the pluralism and sectarianism you are becoming more practical in dealing with real problems that Muslims face. You know some Muslims are dying because of sectarianism, some Muslims are becoming tools of foreign policies that are against the Islamic common good. So, when you begin to deal with the issue of sectarianism and you begin to deal with the issue of Muslims tolerating a plurality of legitimate opinions, you are being more practical. There should be some type of input as to how we can come to terms with real problems that have plagued us for centuries and centuries.

Q: What are your suggestions for promoting unity in the Islamic world?

A: I always say and I continue to repeat that the best way in overcoming the centuries-old problems that we inherited is to intensify the communication among Muslims. There has to be more contact. We live in a world that is called the global village. The world is shrinking but we Muslims are still. Just because of artificial and geographical and political borders we can’t understand the Muslims that are just twenty miles away or twenty kilometers away. And this is very bad. All of this has to come down. There has to be a world of Islam that has intensive communications. All of these barriers have to come down. Why should be visas between Muslim countries? One of the issues that can eliminate a lot of these problems is to drop out the visas requirements. Muslims should be allowed to go anywhere in the Muslim world they wish to go. And in particular Mecca and Medina should be an open city for all Muslims. In all of the Islamic history Mecca was a gravity city for all Muslims. Muslims used to gravitate towards Mecca. No one told them you can’t come to Mecca. You can’t settle in Mecca, you can’t speak your mind in Mecca; you can’t open up to your other brother Muslim in Mecca. But right now the fact on the ground is that we have obstacles, we have official, physical, and economic obstacles that have isolated Mecca and have choked the vitality that belongs there as the melting part of Muslims. These barriers should come down and we can all meet and travel to our common Gheblah, Harram, birthplace of Islam and the Prophet. When this happens, we begin to see that differences among Muslims.

We can communicate with each other and bypass these types of differences there by overcoming the prejudice and bigotry that comes from us not knowing each other.

Mecca is a melting part. It is where Muslims are supposed to come from all over the world to express their heartfelt condition, inner thoughts and their mind to each other. It is a place where the Muslim public mind is consolidated. We don’t have a public mind. By public mind we should be sharing common thoughts, and the reason why we don’t share common thoughts is because we have been divided into 57 nation states and within these 57 nation states there are also subdivisions. Within one nation state we will find a little minority here, a little ethnic group there, a little denomination here. So the division keeps on multiplying and multiplying. This has to cease, it has to end. And the only way this can end is for us, to breathe the freedom that Allah has given us in Mecca and Medina. This is my understanding of how we can truly have a consolidation of the Islamic rank and file of the different peoples, ethnic groups of Islam, different languages, cultures, and educational levels of Muslims.

Q: All participants in such meetings insist on Muslim unity but when they return home no tangible progress is seen and sectarian rifts still persist.

A: There are two elements here. There is an element that gives and an element that takes. Not all people who attend in this conference are at the same level. Some people are more knowledgeable, some people are more experienced, and some people have accurate information. Others are less knowledgeable, less experienced, and less informed. So the people here who come to this conference who have accurate information and who have enough experience should influence those who don’t have… and influence them because people who come to this conference are supposed to be leaders in their own countries or own communities. They are supposed to be intellectuals, professors, and clergyman. They are all in position to affect public opinion in their own environment. So in this conference there has to be those who have the experience, who have the knowledge, the sincerity, and the background to influence, to give. So the others will be the recipients, and then when they go back home are not empty headed and empty handed; they go back with something. And this is supposed to be accomplished.

Q: What do people think about Islam in the U.S.?

A: This is a very hard question to answer because feelings about Islam are very mixed. If you take an official position in Washington, in the United States, there is much animosity and much hostility towards Muslims. This is expressed in policies, occupation, invasion, and stealing the resources of the Muslims.

Then you have the average person in the U.S. who is confused. He listens, says, and hears Islam is this and Islam is that. He may know some Muslims. So you have a proportion of people who are looking and searching for the truth. What is Islam? They want to understand. That segment of people exists in the U.S.

There is another segment of people we are called minorities because of the racist nature of American society. …so if the government is speaking bad about Islam and Muslims, minorities are going to begin to think: wait a minute there might be something good about Islam and Muslims. If my enemy is saying Islam is bad there must be some merits to Islam.

Q: What is your opinion about Iranophobia in the region and in the U.S.?

A: In the region it is only the governments who are Iranophobic. People, they sympathize and they understand Iran. But in the United States, Iran is a peculiar case of Islam. Iran is a head of the rest of the Muslims. That is why we see it (the U.S.) is trying to get Europe, China, and Russia to sanction Iran, to put economic pressure on Iran and these types of things because Iran is ahead of the other Muslims developing in technology, scientific research, progress, and in all of these. It has become the target of the evil governments in the world particularly those that are classified under the replica of imperialism and Zionism.

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Muhammad al-Asi is the elected Imam (the only elected Imam) of the Islamic Center in Washington, DC. He leads the Friday prayers outside of the Masjid as he is barred from entering the mosque for over 27 years.